Braddock Road Youth Club was created in 1966. It is a 501(c) 3 non-profit Virginia corporation. The Recreational Soccer program was established in 1968. The program follows Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) rules as much as possible. A staff of volunteer officers sets policy and administers the program. The officers serve in key positions such as commissioner, deputy commissioner, league director, referee director, etc. Club operating costs for equipment, referees, insurance, and administrative expenses are covered by registration fees. All volunteer officers and head coaches receive a waiver of the registration fee for one child. The general objectives of the Recreational Soccer program are for children to improve their basic athletic ability, learn soccer techniques and skills, have fun, and learn and practice good sportsmanship. The House program differs from the Travel Soccer program, which is for more competitive and committed players, and requires players to try out and be selected by a coach. For more information on Travel Soccer, call 323-7403. The youngest Travel Soccer age group is Under 9.

BRYC Recreational Soccer will grant limited refunds for withdrawal from the program as follows:

Fall Soccer - before August 1, for any reason

Spring Soccer - before March 1, for any reason

Between the above cutoff dates and the beginning of league play, refunds will be granted for the following reasons ONLY:

Medical emergency (i.e., broken arm)

Relocation away from the area

After league play has begun, no refunds will be granted. The above dates and conditions will be strictly observed.

In all cases where a refund is granted, a charge will be deducted to cover overhead and administrative cost, resulting in a $47.50 refund. The refund amount will be the same whether a player registers early, on-time, or late.

All refund requests must be submitted to the appropriate League Director or the Registrar (see the Volunteer Staff or League pages at our website for specific names and contact information). The postmark or date stamp must meet the above qualifying deadlines.

NOTE: A card-bearing Travel soccer player is not permitted to play on a Recreational soccer team during the recreational game season, in or out of BRYC.

There are three ways in which children from a single neighborhood could be assigned to different teams. First, there may be too many children in the neighborhood for one team. Second, there may be two volunteer coaches in the neighborhood. In this case, the children in the neighborhood are split, according to their location, between the two coaches’ teams. Third, children who are registered late (after the second registration date in a season) are assigned to teams on a space available basis.

Many teams change in makeup from season to season because families move in and out the neighborhood, children participate in different seasonal sports, there is turnover in the ranks of volunteer coaches, or--in combined age group leagues--some children move up to different leagues. Even with this high turnover, it is possible for a team to be strong every season simply because the same one or two highly skilled children from the neighborhood play every season.

Each season the BRYC Deputy Commissioners review the team rosters prepared by the League Directors to verify conformance with the neighborhood policy. Any parent who has questions, concerns, or complaints about the process used to form teams should not hesitate to share these with the League Director, who will explain the basis for his/her decisions.

BRYC does not attempt to honor parents’ requests for coaches because such a practice often would require League Directors to assign children to teams based outside of their neighborhoods. A second reason for the BRYC policy is that a practice of honoring requests for coaches could be used to collect specific, highly skilled players onto a team.

The league generally enters one team from each age group and gender in post season All Star tournament play. Before the season begins, each League Director solicits applications for the position of All Star Coach from among the regular season coaches in that league. Each coach is free to nominate as many players as he/she things appropriate for consideration for selection to the All Star squad. The All Star coach selects a squad from this pool of candidates, mindful of both offensive and defensive requirements, based on the information provided by the other coaches and on impressions gained from the sidelines during the games.

If you want your child to play in an older age group, provide a written request to the League Director for that group. Briefly describe your reasons for the request. If a child is within two months of eligibility for the requested age group league, BRYC will usually approve the request. Only children with a special situation, e.g., a physical handicap, may play down with a younger age group, and then only with permission of the League Director.

Coaches are parent volunteers participating in and teaching soccer. Coaches receive a handbook and other aides that describe the rules of the game, good coaching techniques, and strategies for effective practices. On an annual basis, BRYC offers Virginia Youth Soccer Association certified "E" license soccer coaching training. BRYC will pay for volunteers to attend this 16 hour training (usually scheduled over a weekend) if they agree to coach Recreational Soccer for at least two seasons. Each season House Soccer also offers two hour coaching clinics that all new coaches are strongly encouraged to attend. Finally all new coaches meet with the Recreational Soccer Referee director for a detailed review of soccer rules.

For the last 15 years BRYC has provided United States Soccer Federation (USSF) certified training for all of its officials. This training requires 15 hours of instruction and a passing grade of 75 percent on the USSF test for all new referees. USSF also requires five hours of recertification training, which includes retesting, each year. BRYC officials receive and additional 3-4 hours of training and instruction each season through our regular meetings. All BRYC youth officials start as linesmen and after ten games are eligible to take the BRYC center upgrade test. This test is specially designed to ensure that our younger officials are ready to take on the responsibilities of working in the center.

Each spring and fall BRYC receives an allotment of field times from the Fairfax County Recreation program. The Club then divides the allotment among Recreational Soccer and other programs (e.g., lacrosse) following guidelines provided by the County. Unfortunately, Recreational Soccer has always been on the bottom of this priority list, resulting many seasons in an allotment that is insufficient for the quantity of teams needing practice time. We are working to change this situation. A long term goal of House Soccer is to obtain land and establish a soccer complex.

Recreational Soccer assigns game fields to leagues by matching age group to field size (the older age groups get the larger fields). Practice fields are assigned to teams based upon preseason requests submitted by the coaches, field availability, team size, field size, and team age group. It is often difficult, if not impossible, to grant every coach’s request. When a coach’s request cannot be met, the best available alternative is given.

When inclement weather threatens play, BRYC officials walk the fields early game day morning to assess playing conditions. If adverse conditions at a field--usually, substantial amounts of standing water--are determined to pose a threat of injury to the players or damage to the field, all games scheduled at the field for the entire day are canceled and an announcement is placed on the BRYC hotline 354-7101) and it will be updated at 7:00 a.m. Note that BRYC officials may cancel games at certain fields, while allowing games at other fields to proceed.

When BRYC officials determine fields are playable despite inclement weather conditions, a message that games will be played as scheduled is placed on the hotline. Teams must appear at their fields at their scheduled game time or they risk a forfeit. If inclement weather continues, the referee, in consultation with the league director, decides whether to proceed with the scheduled game. Games terminated after half of the game has been played are considered complete.